‘Need For Speed’ and ‘Burnout’ developer Criterion Games is walking away from racers

Criterion Games has been in the business of making very beautiful digital cars go very fast in spectacular digital worlds for a long time now – over a decade in fact; from the original Burnout, which hit PlayStation 2 in 2001, to this year’s Wii U edition of the pristine open world racer Need For Speed: Most Wanted U. With the exception of the 2006 first-person shooter Black, this century Criterion’s only made video games about driving. No more according to creative director Alex Ward.

“After over a decade of making racing games it’s time to make something new,” said Ward on Twitter on Monday, “It is early days thus I have nothing to ‘announce’ or talk about.”

“But if you are following me expecting some megaton of a new Burnout game, or a [Need for Speed] Underground remake then I have to disappoint you.”

There have been multiple rumors to the contrary in 2013. There were hints in January that the studio would be making Burnout Paradise 2 in the future, but Ward later said that sequel was “highly unlikely.” EGM claimed on Thursday that it had received new logo art for a Need For Speed: Underground update, but Criterion squashed that rumor as well. Ward’s new comments confirm that the studio is – at least for now – walking away from the genre that made it famous.

It also won’t be making a shooter from the sound of things. “No Black 2 either, folks,” said Ward, “Volumes to tell on that topic, [I] will have to save that for when I get a book deal.”

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